I’m sitting with Darlene and Deb at a wobbly sidewalk Starbucks table at Larimer Square. This is a good spot for admiring Chalk Art Festival makers and lookers. Lots of digital media is being made here this morning. All of it will last longer than the exquisite chalk creations on the street, which will be washed away before tomorrow morning’s rush-hour traffic. This makes the painstaking work of the artists poignant. They toil on kneepads, rubbing chalk into the concrete with their fingers. One girl uses a skateboard as her seat. Dogs of all sizes take their places among the onlookers.
I like how the iPad shot gives similar emphasis to the artists and their admirers. It could be a street scene in Paris, a random moment capturing a dozen people gathered briefly in the midst of a dozen lives. It feels weird to hold an iPad up to take a photo in public, but the view is pleasingly different than that from a camera or iPhone. It’s as if you’re holding up a frame and you can see the painting still moving.
Remembering my post from Darwin’s Ltd. in Harvard Square, I wonder what clues would lead a viewer to know this is Denver, not Cambridge, Mass. There are fewer sports coats here, I realize as I spot an older gent wearing one with a dress blue-striped Oxford shirt, faded jeans and dirty running shoes. More men wear shorts here – long cotton shorts with lots of pockets. The women wear brighter colors. Everyone looks slightly healthier but not as smart or neurotic. I’m in danger of projecting my own stuff on what I see. The fact is that I feel healthier in body and less neurotic in Mile High Denver, compared with my 02138 self.
It’s difficult not to feel healthy on such a perfect day, in such a pleasant spot. Darlene and Deb have left for the apartment, to get ready for our next in-town tourist destination, the Capitol Hill People’s Fair. Enjoy the coffee!
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